Cerberus

Summary: Part one; Aphelion. Picking up after the end of Eclipse, Bella and Edward try to begin their new life together. However, new issues with Jacob arise, unexpected enemies are made, and an ancient myth, one that even the most powerful creatures on earth fear, is unleashed...

1. Preface

Cerberus--A dog, usually represented as having three heads, that guarded the entrance of the lower heavens, or infernal regions, that was thought by humans to be the abode of demons.

Aphelion--The point at which an orbiting body, such as the earth, is farthest away from the Sun.

"Impossible." I heard Edward hiss between his teeth.

With this word, he seemed to accept fate. I felt him give in and sacrifice a year and a half of passionate teenage love, to reality, and I was scared.

He looked desperately from side to side, searching for an escape, for some kind of sanctuary from what was rushing swiftly toward us.

We were cornered, surrounded by shiny buildings and expensive glass, all of which held expensive computers with expensive knowledge. During the day, expensive intelligent people sat in their expensive chairs and did expensive things; while outside, the stench of poor homeless people and vermin disguised the grandness of it all.

But none of this mattered to me.

Edward feared what was cornering us, because he knew it.

I feared it even more, because I didn’t know it.

Finding no escape beyond crashing through the building behind us; which was not an escape at all since our adversary didn’t need to chase us to hurt us, he backed me up against the wall, half-crouching. I had a sickening sense of déjà-vu, taking me back to our trip to Italy and visit to the Volturi, for a moment. I lost my thoughts when he spread his arms protectively and aggressively out around me.

I wanted to ask him what it was, what was in the shadows that he was so afraid of, but his fear scared me even more than the quiet darkness, so I didn’t speak.

A whimper caught in my throat as I saw the darkness shift, as the creatures hiding within it moved forward. Edward turned his head slightly back toward me.

"It's ok, love,” he said in a defeated tone, “I’ll..."

The word trailed off as their faces emerged from the watery darkness. It looked as though they were being born, like the darkness had been the womb of their mother, and this was their first rigid breath of air. But they owned the darkness, not the other way around, and you could almost feel it by the way they stood.

It was as if the darkness was their child, clinging innocently to its parents. Their power over the blackness, something that didn’t even live and had no reason to obey something that moved and breathed, fizzed in the air like wayward electricity.

The simple fact that they existed went through me like a shot, not even knowing who they were; I felt that their living was the core answer to any question a person could possibly think of.

"Indeed," said their leader softly, standing straight and tall in front of a powerful army.

The power even had a life of its own. I could almost hear its inhuman thoughts as it invaded my own, yet never approached me. Omni-present, the back of my mind said.